Monday, December 28, 2009

Flying is No Fun Anymore or Why Terrorism Seems to Work

And why, pray tell? It's all about fear... fear of dying, fear of the stranger, fear of the unknown terrorist.

And we accept this perverted state of affairs because our government and the media sell us fear. And, my God, we buy into it... big time!

The problem is that terrorism isn't about actually killing anybody, in the long run. It's about fear and coercing the terrorist's "enemies" into changing their behavior and making their life far less enjoyable.

Terrorism doesn't even have to have "successful" outcomes, i.e., planes actually crashing and people actually being blown up, to serve its purpose.

And if that is the case, then our own fear, our own government and certainly our news media are serving the interests of our enemies.

And what does that mean to us, pray tell?

It means quite simply that the terrorists are winning and getting what they want. With every new TSA and Homeland (in)Security restriction they are forcing our own government to play the heavy and make life more miserable for all air travelers. That means that they are winning the battle to instill within us with fear and suspicion and lower our quality and enjoyment of life.

And, worse, our response in dealing with them on a personal and battlefield level is to become the very "monsters" they claim we are, pitiless imperialists bent on killing them and their families. Yep, they are better at manipulating us than we are at dealing with them.

And since they don't seem to fear death as we do, there is little that we can do that doesn't exacerbate the whole d%#m problem.

We have been boxed in by our own rules and morality. As a Christian, advocating their death feels wrong to me. As a realist, advocating their death just means we give them more martyrs and more reasons to hate us. And yet, the nagging thought that their deaths could somehow "solve" the terrorist "problem" keeps creeping into my brain... and eating away at my soul.

Everybody seems to have an idea on how to "fix" the problem, but the fixes are short term and ultimately create bigger moral and diplomatic problems... and probably more terrorists. I see no way out of the hole we are falling into.

And on that cheery *rolls eyes* note, Happy New Year and may we all be blessed with Peace in the coming year!